Solicitor Fees

No-Win, No-Fee Solicitors In London

At Hockfield & Co., we are committed to providing competitively priced legal services to individuals and businesses across South London. Changes to the legal aid system mean public funding is currently available only in very narrow circumstances so affordable legal advice from local solicitors is crucial now more than ever before.

If you want us to represent you, we are happy to discuss the various funding arrangements available and to provide detailed quotes for our work on request. The way we charge will often depend on the type of work we are doing for you. The alternatives include:

  • “No win, no fee” — Conditional Fee Agreements (CFA). We handle most personal injury and solicitor negligence cases in this way, as well as housing disrepair, deposit and illegal eviction claims. Under such arrangements, you pay our fees only if you win. If you win, a large proportion of your costs will be paid by your opponent. At the outset, we will assess your chances of success and if we believe your case has a good chance of success and that there is a good chance of recovering costs from your opponent, we will agree to represent you on this basis.
  • One-off advice sessions — Often clients do not need us to get closely involved in their case and require legal guidance only on a specific issue. For a fixed fee, we will hold a one-off consultation and provide a follow-up letter confirming our advice.
  • Fixed-fee advice — If you would like the reassurance of professional advice, but cannot afford full representation, we may be able to help with certain aspects of your case for an agreed fee. This is known as “unbundling” and can include, for example, one-off representation at the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) or writing a letter of claim to your opponent in a housing dispute case.
  • Fixed-fee packages — In some areas we provide competitive packages for our work, details are available on request.
  • Legal expenses insurance — It is worth checking your household insurance policy to see if it covers legal advice.

Administration of Estate

Cost of Applying for the grant, collecting and distributing the assets

Estates below the threshold for Inheritance Tax

We will handle the full process for you.  The work will be carried out by Lucy Jackson a qualified solicitor with over twenty years’ experience in this area. This quote is for estates where:

  • All the assets are in the UK
  • There is a valid will
  • There is no more than one property
  • There are no more than 10 bank or building society accounts
  • There are no other intangible assets
  • There are up to 10 beneficiaries
  • There are no disputes between beneficiaries on division of assets. If disputes arise this is likely to lead to an increase in costs
  • There is no inheritance tax payable and the executors do not need to submit a full account to HMRC
  • There are no claims made against the estate

We anticipate the process will take between 4 and 30 hours work at £175 per hour. Total costs are therefore estimated at between £700 and £5250 (+VAT).  The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter. For example, if there is one beneficiary and no property, costs will be at the lower end of the range. If there are multiple beneficiaries, a property and multiple bank accounts, costs will be at the higher end.

Disbursements are costs related to your matter that are payable to third parties, such as court fees. We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process. Disbursements payable in addition may include

  • Probate application fee of £155
  • Office copies of the Grant of Probate -50p each
  • £5 Swearing of the oath (per executor) plus £2.00 if there is an exhibit such as the Will
  • Bankruptcy-only Land Charges Department searches (£2 per beneficiary)
  • £64.25 Post in The London Gazette – Protects against unexpected claims from unknown creditors.
  • Post in a Local Newspaper – This also helps to protect against unexpected claims – price varies according to Paper.

Potential additional costs

  • If there is no will
  • If there are complications in identifying the beneficiaries
  • The estate consists of any share holdings (stocks and bonds) there is likely to be additional costs that could range significantly depending on the estate and how it is to be dealt with. We can give you a more accurate quote once we have more information.
  • Dealing with the sale or transfer of any property in the estate is not included.
  • Preparation of income tax returns
  • Preparation of Deed of Variation

How long will this take?

On average, estates that fall within this range are dealt with within 3-12 months. Typically, obtaining the grant of probate takes 8-12  weeks. Collecting assets then follows, which can take between 4-12 weeks. Once this has been done, we can distribute the assets, which normally takes 4-6 weeks.

Larger Estates

We also deal with larger estates which are above the threshold for Inheritance Tax (and therefore require more detailed IHT returns) and/or are complex and must be registered with HMRC as such. Our hourly charge in dealing with these estates is £195.

The process is likely to be longer, usually between 30 and 100 hours. Costs are between £5,850 and £19,500. The exact cost will depend on the individual circumstances of the matter, such as number of different assets and beneficiaries.

The disbursements will be as above.

Complex estates take longer to wind up, usually between one and two years.

Contact Us

For more details about our fees, please contact us online or by phone on 0207 582 8784.